Where My Demons Hide
by CelestiasFaithful
Summary: Post Beautiful-Chaos. The grieving characters of the series through the eyes of Macon Ravenwood, and maybe he will finally show some vulnerability. Religion reference, explained in Author's Note. (Inspired by "Demons" by Imagine Dragons. I've been working on this for almost a month as a side project that I recently just rediscovered. For my friend Sammi who just started the series.


**EDIT: Lyrics have been removed due to accidental copyright infringement. I apologize for any inconvenience.**

**This songfic is dedicated to my friend Sammi, who hasn't heard of The Caster Chronicles or fanfiction whatsoever, but she's a hardcore Imagine Dragons fan, so if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have found this song. So thanks, Sammi- and happy birthday. :)**  
**Here's another Macon songfic to "Demons" by Imagine Dragons. The story is mainly the aftermath of Beautiful Chaos through Macon's eyes.**  
**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the books or the song. Zero. Zip. Nada.**  
**Spoilers: Spoilers for all the books (foreshadowing Beautiful Redemption)**  
**(I apologize if "is" is written as "his". I tried to make sure i fixed every one of them after my autocorrect decided to mess with me, but there are probably more hiding somewhere.)**

* * *

Macon looked out the window at the sun rising. There was no buzz of insects, the grass was already starting to regrow. The price had been paid, and the world was almost back to normal. He sighed, knowing his niece was in distress, and there was nothing he could do. It was only a few days ago when everyone had decided the body of Ethan Wate wouldn't be buried at a mortal cemetery with its glow-in-the-dark crosses and golden angels that laid over the headstones in sorrow. Ethan had

He remembered the first day.  
Lena was in shock, letting it still sink in. Her boyfriend was dead. He jumped from the water tower. He made the sacrifice. He payed the price for them all. It was his blood that stained the earth around the water tower. No one else's. Lena had locked herself in her room, attempting to go to bed, attempting to dream. To dream away her sorrow, or maybe it was all a nightmare and she just needed to wake up.

The next day, Lena finally came out, looking sick. She shuddered and trembled, sitting in a chair. She sat there, her eyes not focused on anything in particular. When Macon finally entered, she had moved to the couch and had wrapped herself in a blanket. He frowned, and walked over slowly, not wanting to do something that might set her off further. Her wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned into his chest. She started to sob uncontrollably, holding him as if her life depended on it. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, but it wasn't. That would be a horrible lie. He decided that the horrible_ truth_ was better than a horrible _lie_.

Liv and John came to the house later that day, who appeared to be better than Lena, but were nowhere okay in any way. "Ethan was so generous, and the rest of us were greedy." she had said, excluding John from 'everyone', since he had thought he was The One Who Was Two instead of Ethna at one point. "He sacrificed himself and _none_ of us did." she said, subconsciously showing that she was in the denial stage of the grieving process, where she blamed herself (and in this case, herself and others) for his death.

Macon held Lena like he had that day for a long time afterward. The heat of another person next to her was comforting. Something soft and warm in a world of sharp and cold depression. It was still dark inside the house like it had been, even though Macon was now immune to sunlight. He thought that even though the dark had symbolized the evil in general, which was what he had died trying to destroy, and had succeeded. But now he hoped she would find comfort in it, since there was no longer anything to fear.

Macon had briefly checked up with the others in the past few days. Mr. Wate was under a powerful cast that would keep him from ever knowing his son was dead, Amma and the Sisters- the two who were still living, though- were mourning to the breaking point of their everyday lives, and Marian was also mourning in silence. The symbolic 'light' in their lives was gone. Like a switch had be pressed. Macon never had a wife, and _definitely_ not any children, but he felt that Ethan had become sort of a son to him, which made him feel even more depressed.

Macon finally walked outside as the sun set, finally reaching a patch of newly-moved dirt, a wooden cross at one end. "It's good to see you again, Mr. Wate." he chuckled, trying to keep his sorrow inside of him.  
"I have a feeling you've learned to dwell in this world as a Sheer, and that you're listening right now-" his voice trailed off.  
"I want you to know-"

"Everyone is _miserable_" he said, looking at the grave. "Amma, Lena, Marian, _myself_."  
He sighed, realizing he had probably been wrong and he was just a _nutty old man talking to a cross_.  
"Goodbye, Mr. Wate...I have a feeling this will be the last time you hear from me. I am an old man. I don't have many years left. And when I pass on, _I have a feeling I won't be going to the same place you are_."

He looked down, thinking about what he had just said. True, there was a Caster Otherworld that was also hidden among the mortal Otherworld like it was in life...but he didn't know where he was going in the end. An _incubus-gone-good-trapped-in-an-arclight-and-turned-into-a-light-caster_ was going to be quite a unique case when the time came. He didn't want to go to the place where his demons hide. He wanted to go to the place where they hid not in waiting, but in fear.

He quickly got his mind off-topic from trying to communicate with Ethan. As the expression went- '_you made your bed, and you're going to lie in it_'. He had made his bed, and maybe was still making it. Maybe when he finally laid down in it, he'd have dreams, not nightmares. Maybe he could somehow alter his fate. Or maybe he was just a dreamer.

He quickly tried to get himself off of the topic, looking back at Ethan's grave. He suddenly felt something tug at his shirt. It was too hard to not be human or be imaginary, and he was definitely alone there. He nodded, not looking in any particular direction, but he nodded to what he thought was there- _Ethan._

He turned around after he had walked a few feet from the grave.  
"She misses you _so much_."  
Macon was staring at the grave, a tear rolling down his cheek.  
"Ethan, if you are here- _tell your mother I love her_."  
Macon quickly walked back to the house, a feeling that was similar to what Lena had felt rushing over him. It was a painful sorrow, but he had felt like he had a weight lifted off his shoulders.  
Macon grinned...it was a genuine grin- something he hadn't done in _years_.  
_Maybe Lila had got his message. _  
_Maybe Ethan was there. _  
_Maybe fates could be changed._

* * *

**AN: Before I receive hate reviews about the "hell-bound" lyrics, allow me to explain. In almost every book series, we have a good force and an evil force, and usually some reference to heaven, hell, or both. For example "Aslan's Country" from The Chronicles of Narnia is C. S. Lewis' reference for heaven (spoiler alert) when Susan stops believing in Narnia, when all four of them die in that train wreck, they all go back to Aslan's Country/Narnia afterwards except Susan. J. K. Rowling created a sort of heaven-like scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when (again- spoiler alert) Harry dies, comes back to the distorted white Platform 9 and 3/4, and sees Dumbledore. And as you well know- the Otherworld in this very series, the Underworld in the Percy Jackson series,ect.**  
**Back to my point-**  
**Books have that good v.s. evil theme, afterlife references or not. Since it is human nature to think of the light and all the happy thing as a sign of (not so much heaven, since i'm trying to keep it a level playing field here for those of you people who do not believe in heaven/hell,god/gods,religion in general,ect.) light/heaven/goodness, and the yin-to-the-yang, darkness/hell/evil. Incubi/Incubusses (does anyone know the canon plural verison? If so- please let me know. I'd really appreciate it.) fall under the category of the dark. Thus, Macon foreshadows he does not have the luxury of going to the Otherworld when he passes on, due to his life as an Incubus before becoming (spoilers) a light caster after Beautiful Darkness.**  
**I am not vouching for any religions here whatsoever. (and ****definitely**** do not think Macon's going to Caster-hell.) I think everyone can believe what they want to believe religion-wise, and gays can get married, and all that fun stuff. But let's not get off-topic.**

**I'm glad you enjoyed this- I deleted and re-wrote this countless times and I think I finally perfected it.**


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